Device of detecting abnormal state and method of detecting thereof

ABSTRACT

A refrigerator includes a temperature sensor; a door sensor; a compressor sensor; an ice sensor; a water sensor; and a defrost sensor. The refrigerator also includes a communication unit; a display unit; at least one processor; and at least one memory connected to the at least one processor and storing instructions that, when executed, perform operations including: sensing, through the plurality of sensors, sensing information related to the refrigerator; storing, in the at least one computer memory, (i) the sensing information, and (ii) time information; transmitting to at least one server, (i) the sensing information and the time information, and (ii) setting information for the refrigerating compartment or the freezer compartment; receiving information regarding an abnormal state of the refrigerator that is generated by a cloud server or a monitoring server based on the sensing information; and outputting display information related to the received information regarding the abnormal state.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of an earlier filing date and rightof priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2018-0049353, filed onApr. 27, 2018, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to determining an abnormalstate of a device.

BACKGROUND

Electronic products are typically operated in various usageenvironments. Structures or components of electronic products aremanipulated and altered by users in various ways during use ofelectronic products after the electronic products are manufactured andshipped. For example, users frequently turning-off and turning-offelectronic products, such as a TV, can cause malfunctions in a powerconnection. As another example, an air conditioner including an outdoorunit and various mechanical or chemical components can operate in usagescenarios that can lead to a malfunction of the air conditioner. Ingeneral, the operational environment and usage of electronic productscan lead to a variety of malfunctions.

SUMMARY

One general aspect of the present disclosure includes a refrigeratorincluding: a plurality of sensors that includes: (i) a temperaturesensor configured to sense a temperature of at least one of arefrigerating compartment or a freezer compartment of the refrigerator,(ii) a door sensor configured to sense at least one of an opening or aclosing of a door of the refrigerator, (iii) a compressor sensorconfigured to sense an operation pattern of a compressor of therefrigerator, (iv) an ice sensor configured to sense at least one of anamount of ice or a state of the ice in the refrigerator, (v) a watersensor configured to sense at least one of an amount of water or apressure of the water for the refrigerator, and (vi) a defrost sensorconfigured to sense frost that is generated in the refrigerator. Therefrigerator also includes a communication unit. The refrigerator alsoincludes a display unit. The refrigerator also includes at least oneprocessor; and at least one computer memory operably connectable to theat least one processor and storing instructions that, when executed bythe at least one processor, perform operations including: sensing,through at least one of the plurality of sensors, sensing informationthat is related to the refrigerator; storing, in the at least onecomputer memory, (i) the sensing information, and (ii) time informationfor the sensing information; and transmitting, through the communicationunit to at least one server, (i) the sensing information and the timeinformation that is stored in the at least one computer memory, and (ii)setting information for the at least one of the refrigeratingcompartment or the freezer compartment. The operations also includereceiving, through the communication unit, information regarding anabnormal state of the refrigerator that is generated by at least one ofa cloud server or a monitoring server based on the sensing informationsensed by the at least one of the plurality of sensors; and controllingthe display unit to output display information that is related to thereceived information regarding the abnormal state of the refrigerator.Other embodiments of this aspect include corresponding computer systems,apparatus, and computer programs recorded on one or more computerstorage devices, each configured to perform the actions of the methods.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. Therefrigerator where the information regarding the abnormal state isgenerated by the cloud server based on an association between firstsensing information and second sensing information, among a plurality ofsensing information that is sensed by the plurality of sensors. Theassociation between the first sensing information and the second sensinginformation relates to (i) the second sensing information not matchingpattern information stored in the cloud server, and (ii) the cloudserver determining that the second sensing information not matching thepattern information corresponds to the abnormal state, based on thefirst sensing information. The refrigerator where the abnormal stateincludes at least one of (i) a malfunction state of a first sensor thatgenerates the first sensing information, or (ii) a malfunction state ofa second sensor that generates the second sensing information. Therefrigerator where at least one sensor, among the plurality of sensors,which generates the second sensing information includes at least one ofthe temperature sensor or the sensor of the compressor. The refrigeratorwhere the operations further include: receiving, through thecommunication unit from the monitoring server, operation information forresolving the abnormal state, where the operation information includesinformation regarding at least one of (i) a customer service schedule,or (ii) setting information for resolving the abnormal state. Therefrigerator where the operations further include: controlling thedisplay unit to display information related to the customer serviceschedule. The refrigerator where the operations may also includeaccumulating and storing the sensing information that is sensed by theat least one of the plurality of sensors, with respect to theinformation regarding the abnormal state. The refrigerator where theoperations further include: adaptively managing a transmission period ora sensing period for sensing information, depending on the at least oneof the plurality of sensors. The refrigerator where a first value of thetransmission period or the sensing period after the abnormal state hasbeen resolved is less than a second value of the transmission period orthe sensing period before the abnormal state has been resolved.Implementations of the described techniques may include hardware, amethod or process, or computer software on a computer-accessible medium.

Another general aspect includes a cloud server including: acommunication unit. The cloud server also includes at least oneprocessor; and at least one computer memory operably connectable to theat least one processor and storing instructions that, when executed bythe at least one processor, perform operations including: receiving,through the communication unit from a first refrigerator, sensinginformation that is sensed at a first time point and a second time pointby a plurality of sensors of the first refrigerator; storing, in the atleast one computer memory, (i) the sensing information and (ii) patterninformation for determining an abnormal state of the first refrigerator;comparing the pattern information that is stored in the at least onecomputer memory with the sensing information that was sensed at thefirst time point and the second time point; determining, based oncomparing the pattern information with the sensing information, whetherthe first refrigerator is in the abnormal state; generating informationregarding the abnormal state based on determining that the sensinginformation indicates an abnormal state of the first refrigerator; andtransmitting, through the communication unit to the first refrigeratoror to a monitoring server, the information regarding the abnormal state.Other embodiments of this aspect include corresponding computer systems,apparatus, and computer programs recorded on one or more computerstorage devices, each configured to perform the actions of the methods.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. Thecloud server where the information regarding the abnormal state isgenerated based on an association between first sensing information andsecond sensing information, among a plurality of sensing informationthat is sensed by the plurality of sensors of the first refrigerator.The cloud server where the association between the first sensinginformation and the second sensing information relates to (i) the secondsensing information not matching the pattern information, and (ii) adetermination that the second sensing information not matching thepattern information corresponds to the abnormal state, based on thefirst sensing information. The cloud server where the abnormal stateincludes at least one of (i) a malfunction of a first sensor thatgenerates the first sensing information, or (ii) a malfunction of asecond sensor that generates the second sensing information. The cloudserver where at least one sensor, among the plurality of sensors of thefirst refrigerator, which generates the second sensing informationincludes at least one of (i) a temperature sensor, or (ii) a sensor of acompressor of the first refrigerator. The cloud server where theoperations further include: accumulating and storing first patterninformation regarding a normal pattern and second pattern informationregarding an abnormal pattern that are generated based on aggregatesensing information that is sensed by the first refrigerator and by aplurality of second refrigerators. The cloud server where the operationsalso include storing, in the at least one computer memory, the firstpattern information and the second pattern information. The cloud serverwhere generating the information regarding the abnormal state of thefirst refrigerator includes: determining information regarding a firstabnormal state of a compressor of the first refrigerator, based oncompressor sensing information that is sensed by a compressor sensor,where the compressor sensor is configured to sense (i) an operationpattern of the compressor of the first refrigerator, (ii) a continuousoperation time of the compressor of the first refrigerator, and (iii) anoperation cycle of the compressor of the first refrigerator. The cloudserver where generating the information regarding the abnormal state ofthe first refrigerator includes: comparing (i) temperature informationrelated to temperatures that are sensed by and received from the firstrefrigerator, and (ii) pattern information related to an operationpattern of a compressor of the first refrigerator that is generatedbased on compressor sensing information that is sensed by a compressorsensor; determining a first abnormal state of the compressor of thefirst refrigerator based on comparing the temperature information andthe pattern information; and generating the information regarding theabnormal state, based on the first abnormal state of the compressor. Thecloud server where generating the information regarding the abnormalstate of the first refrigerator includes: receiving, through thecommunication unit, (i) temperature information related to sensing atemperature of at least one of a refrigerating compartment or a freezercompartment of the first refrigerator, and (ii) door information relatedto sensing at least one of an opening or a closing of a door of thefirst refrigerator; generating the information regarding the abnormalstate based on (i) a magnitude of a temperature change according to thetemperature information, (ii) a time duration to reduce the magnitude ofthe temperature change, and (iii) the door information related tosensing at least one of the opening or the closing of the door. Thecloud server where generating the information regarding the abnormalstate of the first refrigerator includes: generating the informationregarding the abnormal state based on (i) comparing at least one of thetemperature information or the door information with the stored patterninformation, and (ii) a change in the temperature information exceedinga threshold range of the pattern information, where the change in thetemperature information relates to a change in time or a change intemperature of the temperature information. The cloud server wheregenerating the information regarding the abnormal state of the firstrefrigerator includes: generating the information regarding the abnormalstate with respect to an opening of a door of the first refrigerator,based on the door information, and based on the temperature informationindicating that the sensed temperature is continuously increased ordecreased for a predetermined time range; and transmitting, through thecommunication unit to the first refrigerator, the information regardingthe abnormal state of the first refrigerator. Implementations of thedescribed techniques may include hardware, a method or process, orcomputer software on a computer-accessible medium.

Another general aspect includes a method of detecting an abnormal stateby a monitoring server, the method including: receiving, through acommunication unit of the monitoring server, (i) information regardingan abnormal state of a first refrigerator, and (ii) sensing informationwith respect to the information regarding the abnormal state. The methodalso includes controlling a monitoring display unit to output displayedinformation that is related to (i) the information regarding theabnormal state and the sensing information, and (ii) user informationrelated to the first refrigerator. The method also includestransmitting, through the communication unit or through the monitoringdisplay unit to the first refrigerator, (i) operation information forresolving the abnormal state, and (ii) the information regarding theabnormal state. Other embodiments of this aspect include correspondingcomputer systems, apparatus, and computer programs recorded on one ormore computer storage devices, each configured to perform the actions ofthe methods.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. Themethod where the monitoring display unit receives at least one of theoperation information or the information regarding the abnormal statevia a call or a message through a telephone number that is included inthe user information, and stores the received information in at leastone computer memory. The method where the operation information includesinformation regarding at least one of (i) a customer service schedule,or (ii) setting information for resolving the abnormal state.Implementations of the described techniques may include hardware, amethod or process, or computer software on a computer-accessible medium.

All or part of the features described throughout this application can beimplemented as a computer program product including instructions thatare stored on one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media,and that are executable on one or more processing devices. All or partof the features described throughout this application can be implementedas an apparatus, method, or electronic system that can include one ormore processing devices and memory to store executable instructions toimplement the stated functions.

The details of one or more implementations of the subject matter of thisdisclosure are set forth in the accompanying drawings and thedescription below. Other features, aspects, and advantages of thesubject matter will become apparent from the description, the drawings,and the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an example of a process of transmitting and receivinginformation between a refrigerator and a portable terminal;

FIG. 2 shows an example of a process of transmitting operationinformation of a device to a server according to an implementation ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 3 shows an example of a configuration of a refrigerator accordingto an implementation of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 shows an example of a configuration of a cloud server accordingto an implementation of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 shows an example of a configuration of a monitoring serveraccording to an implementation of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 shows an example of a process of determining an abnormal statebased on information on sensing of temperature by a cloud serveraccording to an implementation of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 shows an example of a process of recommending an optimal settingtemperature to a user based on sensed temperature information accordingto an implementation of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 shows an example of changing a setting temperature depending on achange of a sensing temperature according to an implementation of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 9 shows an example of a process of resetting a setting temperaturebased on an outdoor air temperature according to an implementation ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 10 shows an example of determining an abnormal state by a cloudserver based on door opening information and sensed temperatureinformation according to an implementation of the present disclosure;

FIG. 11 shows an example of a process of determining an abnormal stateby a cloud server based on information sensed during an operation of acompressor according to an implementation of the present disclosure;

FIG. 12 shows an example of information regarding a compressor receivedfrom a refrigerator according to an implementation of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 13 shows an example of a process in which each device operatesaccording to an implementation of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 14 shows an example of transmitting, by a plurality ofrefrigerators, sensed information to a cloud server according to animplementation of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Systems and techniques are disclosed herein that enable determination ofan abnormal state of one or more home appliances, such as refrigerators.An abnormal state may, in some scenarios, be proactively identifiedduring operation of the home appliances, before the abnormality causes afailure of the home appliances.

According to some implementations, a state of the home appliances may betransmitted (e.g., continuously transmitted) to a server, an abnormalstate or a normal state may be determined by the server based on thereceived information.

As an example, a service center may determine a state of the homeappliances based on accumulated sensing information, and may provide anappropriate service based on the sensing information. Such service maybe provided even if a user does not correctly explain a state of thehome appliance when the user applies for customer service, thusproviding improved for the user.

In some implementations, the abnormal state of the home appliances maybe resolved by proactively determined the abnormal state occurringduring operation of the home appliances, before the abnormality causesfailure of the home appliances.

In some implementations, a cloud server may determine the abnormal stateor a normal state of home appliances based on information received fromthe home appliances. For example, sensing information from varioussensors of the home appliances may be transmitted (e.g., continuously)to the cloud server.

As such, in some scenarios, even if a user of the home appliance doesnot accurately explain the state of the home appliance when the userapplies for customer service, a service center may determine the stateof the home appliances based on the accumulated sensing information, andthus provide an appropriate service to the home appliance of the user.

Effects of implementations of the present disclosure are not limited tothe effects described above, and those skilled in the art of the presentdisclosure can easily understand the various effects of the presentdisclosure based on the disclosure of the present disclosure

A refrigerator may be impacted mechanically or electrically as therefrigerator is frequently used. As a result, various kinds ofabnormality, such as an abnormal change in the property of a refrigerantor an abnormal change in the operation of a compressor, may occur. As itmay be difficult to easily determine a cause of the abnormal state, auser may not be able to correctly resolve the abnormal state of therefrigerator, and may require a service representative to visit theuser's site where the refrigerator is installed and resolve theabnormality of the refrigerator.

In some systems, a refrigerator may provide (e.g., via wirelesscommunication) diagnostic information or state information of therefrigerator through a portable terminal. For example, the refrigeratormay transmit and receive user information to and from the portableterminal.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a process of transmitting and receivinginformation between the refrigerator and the portable terminal.

In this example, first, it is determined that a portable terminalreceives an information request from the user (S1), and the portableterminal transmits an information request message to the refrigerator(S2). The refrigerator retrieves the requested information (S3) andtransmits the retrieved information back to the portable terminal (S4).The portable terminal displays and stores the received information (S5).The steps of FIG. 1 may be performed when the user desires to determinethe state of a refrigerator through the portable terminal.

However, as shown in FIG. 1, a basic state of the refrigerator is onlydetermined based on limited information of the refrigerator. As such,there may be a limitation to the effectiveness of determining anabnormal state of the refrigerator. In particular, the example of FIG. 1does not show a content of determining the state of the refrigerator asbeing abnormal or normal. However, FIG. 1 shows that information isconfirmed through the portable terminal.

Therefore, the example in FIG. 1 does not suggest how to generallydetermine an abnormal state of the refrigerator, and does not suggesthow to use the received state information in any particular manner todetect an abnormal state. Accordingly, the example of FIG. 1 isgenerally unable to determine and transmit information regarding anabnormal state of electronic products, such as a TV, an air conditioner,a refrigerator, and the like, to a customer in real time or at apredetermined time interval. Therefore, there is generally a need fordetermining an abnormal state of electronic products, such asrefrigerators, to enable more efficient response to the determinedabnormal state.

Hereinafter, implementations of the present disclosure will be describedin detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that thoseskilled in the art can easily carry out the present disclosure.

In order to clearly describe the implementations, the descriptionirrelevant to the implementations has been omitted. Same or likereference numerals designate same or like components throughout thespecification. Further, some implementations will be described in detailwith reference to the illustrative drawings. Regarding the referencenumerals assigned to the components in the drawings, it should be notedthat the same components will be designated by the same referencenumerals, wherever possible, even though they are shown in differentdrawings. Furthermore, in relation to describing the present disclosure,the detailed description of well-known related configurations orfunctions can be omitted when it is deemed that such description maycause ambiguous interpretation of the present disclosure.

In addition, in relation to implementing the present disclosure,features of the present disclosure may be described as being performedby separate components for ease of explanation. However, these featuresmay be implemented by a single device or module, or one feature may beimplemented by several devices or modules.

In the present disclosure, a refrigerator will be described as anexample that enables monitoring an abnormal state of a device. Accordingto the present disclosure, an abnormal state generally refers to thedevice not operating normally, but is not necessarily limited to afailure state of the device. That is, an abnormal state of the devicecan include both a state before failure of the device, as well as afailure state of the device.

As described above, home appliances, such as a refrigerator, typicallyhave very complex operation states, which can include variouspossibilities of abnormal states. Thus, in some scenarios, a morenuanced determination of abnormal states may be beneficial. According toimplementations of the present disclosure, an example of a refrigeratorwill be mainly described. However, implementations of the presentdisclosure are not limited to a refrigerator, and may be applied tovarious types of products that transmit information regarding anoperation state generated when a communicable electronic productoperates (e.g., continuously) to a cloud server and receives a result ofdetermining information regarding the operation state.

According to implementations of the present disclosure, a refrigeratoris described as a device that refrigerates or freezes a stored product.Refrigerators include various types of refrigerating and freezingdevices, such as a general refrigerator that stores food, aspecial-purpose refrigerator designed for particular food items, abeverage refrigerator, a household refrigerator, a commercialrefrigerator, and a freezing device having only a freezer. Further,implementations of the present disclosure may also be applied to adevice that refrigerates stored goods, other than food, such as acosmetics refrigerator. Further, a refrigerating device installed in alarge refrigerating trailer, which may be a portable type, may also beapplicable to implementations described in the present disclosure.

According to some implementations of the present disclosure, therefrigerator may collect information regarding a state (e.g., aninternal state) of the refrigerator based on various communicationprotocols and transmit the collected information to an external cloudserver. In one implementation, the communication may be made via WiFi,but the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a process of transmitting operationinformation of a device to a server according to an implementation ofthe present disclosure. In one implementation, the device is arefrigerator 100 having a plurality of components. The refrigerator 100transmits operation information regarding monitoring of the components(e.g., for a predetermined time interval, such as in units of seconds orminutes) to at least one server, such as cloud server 200 (S11).

Monitoring of the components of the refrigerator may be performed invarious ways, for example, by checking an opening and closing of a door,changes in temperature or humidity, a circulation of a refrigerant, anoperation of a compressor, and the like. In scenarios where the productis another device different from the refrigerator, various kinds ofoperation information generated by the device may be transmitted to thecloud server 200. The transmission may be performed via Wi-Fi asexemplified in S11.

Based on the transmitted operation information, one or more servers(e.g., the cloud server 200 and/or other servers) may analyze theoperation information and determine an abnormal state of therefrigerator 100.

For example, the cloud server 200 may compare and analyze the receivedoperation information together with previous operation information ofthe product. In some scenarios, the cloud server 200 may transmit data(e.g., encoded data) based on the analysis to a monitoring server 400 ofa call center (S12). For example, the cloud server 200 may analyze thereceived operation information and determine and/or predict an abnormalstate of the product based on comparison data that is different from thereceived data, or previous data of the product, and the like. When theabnormality of the product is determined, the cloud server 200 mayperform various operations. For example, the information and theabnormal state of the product may be transmitted to a monitoring server400 of the call center.

The monitoring server 400 of the call center may determine whether theabnormal state occurs during an operation of the device based on theinformation provided by the cloud server 200 or the analysis server 300.According to some implementations, the monitoring server 400 of the callcenter may determine the status of the device before the abnormal statehas occurred, based on the information provided by the cloud server 200or the analysis server 300.

In some implementations, the cloud server 200 transmits the encoded datawith respect to the received operation information to a separateanalysis server 300 (S13). The analysis server 300 may analyze theencoded data. In some scenarios, the cloud server 200 may be integratedwith the analysis server 300, or the cloud server 200 may be separatefrom the analysis server 300. The analysis server 300 generates adiagnostic result regarding an operation of the refrigerator based onthe received encoded data and transmits the generated diagnostic resultto the monitoring server 400 of the call center (S14).

When the abnormal state is determined, the monitoring server 400 mayperform various operations, such as controlling a notification messageto be transmitted to a monitoring representative (S15). The detectedabnormal state may enable the monitoring representative to performvarious operations. For example, the monitoring representative may callor send a message to a contact number of an owner of the device andnotifies the owner of the device of a method of resolving the abnormalstate (S16). Alternatively, the monitoring representative may transmitthe information to a customer service representative in order to repairthe device (S17). These example two operations, S16 and S17, may beperformed sequentially or simultaneously to adjust a visit schedule ofthe customer service representative in consideration of schedule of theowner of the device and the customer service representative.

The example of the process of FIG. 2 is summarized as follows. Whenproducts (e.g., home appliances) installed in the house transmitsoperation information of the product to the cloud server 200 using acommunication method such as Wi-Fi (S11), the cloud server 200determines the abnormal state of the product or predicts a possibilityof occurrence of the abnormal state based on the received data. When thecloud server 200 determines the abnormal state of the product, theinformation and abnormal contents of the product may be transmitted tothe monitoring server 400 of the call center (S12).

In this process, analysis information on the abnormal state analyzed bythe analysis server 300 (arranged in the cloud server 200 or separatelyfrom the cloud server 200) may also be transmitted to the monitoringserver 400 (S14). As such, the monitoring representative of the callcenter may contact the customer and a repair person to set a schedule ofrepair visit to resolve the abnormal state.

According to an implementation, the information regarding the abnormalstate described later is generated by the cloud server 200 based onfirst sensing information and second sensing information having anassociation with each other among the sensing information sensed byvarious sensors arranged in the refrigerator 100. If the second sensinginformation is not matched with pattern information stored in the cloudserver 200, then the cloud server 200 may determine a statecorresponding to the second sensing information that is not matched withthe pattern information as an abnormal state based on the first sensinginformation, and generate information regarding the abnormal state. Theassociation between the different sensing information may indicate arelation of sensors that generate the sensing information and sensingdata that is generated by the sensors.

For example, second sensing information sensed by a second sensor thatis not matched with pattern information may correspond to the secondsensing information relating to an abnormal change in the temperaturevalue of the temperature sensor, an abnormal state of an operation of acompressor sensed by a sensor of the compressor, and the like. Thepattern information may, in some implementations, be accumulated duringoperation of refrigerators as big data, and the pattern information maybe verified. In some implementations, the pattern information may becompared with a combination of sensed value of each refrigerator. Thepattern information may be compared with a changed value of eachrefrigerator's sensor.

In some implementations, the cloud server 200 may determine whether arefrigerator is in an abnormal state, even if the second sensinginformation is not matched with the pattern information. Such adetermination may be made based on the first sensing informationgenerated by other sensors being different from the second sensor, andhaving an association therewith.

For example, even in scenarios where information sensed by a sensor isnot included in a range of a normal pattern or is determined to match anabnormal pattern, such scenarios may not always directly indicate anabnormal state. Instead, in some implementations, an accuracy ofdetermining the abnormal state may be further enhanced based on theinformation sensed by other sensors.

In such scenarios, the abnormal state may include a malfunction state ofa first sensor that generates the first sensing information or amalfunction state of a second sensor that generates the second sensinginformation.

Further, a sensor that generates the second sensing information comparedwith the normal pattern or the abnormal pattern may include a sensorthat continuously monitors changes in states of the refrigerator, suchas a temperature sensor or a sensor of a compressor. In someimplementations, the second sensing information may be generated by asensor that determines a state of ice or measures water quantity andwater pressure, or senses a defrost cycle or a defrost state.

Alternatively, some sensors among the sensors that generate the secondsensing information may be included in the sensors that generate thefirst sensing information. As such, the cloud server 200 (and/or otherservers) may determine the abnormal state of the refrigerator based onthe information sensed by the two or more sensors having an associationwith each other. Further details of such implementations are describedbelow.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a configuration of a refrigerator accordingto an implementation of the present disclosure. Although FIG. 3 does notexpressly show certain components of a refrigerator, such as a door, acompressor, a motor of compressor, and the like, such components of therefrigerator are understood to be implemented and are described belowwith reference to sensing and processing information related to suchcomponents.

The refrigerator 100 may include various types of sensors. Examples ofsuch sensors include a temperature sensor 101 that senses thetemperatures of a refrigerating compartment and a freezer compartment, adoor sensor 102 that senses an opening and closing of a door, a sensorof a compressor 110 that senses an operation pattern of the compressor,an ice sensor 101 that senses an amount of ice used and a state of ice,a water quantity and water pressure sensor 122 that senses an amount ofwater used and a water pressure, and a defrost sensor 130 that monitorsa defrost cycle or senses frost or senses a defrost state ofrefrigerator may be provided as an exemplary configuration of thesensors. A water quantity and water pressure sensor 122 may include aflow sensor. An operation pattern of the compressor may includeinformation regarding a pattern of a compressor's operation mode, forexample, a mode of compressing, a mode of discharging, a mode ofevaporating, a mode of condensing, and the like.

At least one computer memory, such as a storage unit 170, stores variousinformation related to the sensors, for example, the sensing informationsensed by the sensors together with time information related to thesensing information. Such information stored in the storage unit 170may, in some scenarios, be erased after a predetermined period of time.However, in some implementations, when the abnormal state is determined,the information related to the abnormal state may be accumulated andstored so as not to be erased.

A communication unit 180 transmits, in some implementations, storedinformation (e.g., sensing information and time information), as well assetting information for the refrigerating compartment and/or the freezercompartment to at least one server, such as cloud server 200.

A display unit 160 outputs various kinds of information. For example,audio data such as sound, and image data such as characters and imagesmay be outputted.

At least one processor, such as a controller 150, controls the sensors,the storage unit 170, the communication unit 180, and the display unit160. For example, in some implementations, the controller 150 adjusts aninterval at which sensing information is transmitted to the server or aninterval at which the sensor performs sensing. When the communicationunit 180 receives (e.g., from a cloud server 200 or a monitoring server400) information regarding an abnormal state that was generated based onthe sensing information sensed by the sensor, the controller 150 mayperform various operations, such as controlling the display unit 160 todisplay an output related to the received information regarding theabnormal state.

The controller 150 may adjust an interval at which the sensinginformation is transmitted or an interval at which the sensor senses.For example, the transmission may be performed at a preset interval, andsubsequently, if an abnormal state is determined, then an interval atwhich the sensing information is transmitted may be increased ordecreased from the preset interval.

For example, the controller 150 may adjust a sensing period after theinformation regarding the abnormal state is received. The controller 150may manage a transmission period of the sensing information in adifferent manner depending on the sensors. Further, after thecommunication unit 180 receives the information regarding the abnormalstate, the controller 150 may set the transmission period or the sensingperiod of the sensing information sensed by the sensor with respect tothe information regarding the abnormal state to be less than thetransmission period or the sensing period before the informationregarding the abnormal state is received.

When an abnormal state is determined, in some implementations, therelated sensors may generate sensing information more frequently formore accurate or detailed monitoring. For example, in FIG. 3, when thetemperature sensor 101 is sensing changes in temperature at timeintervals of one minute, if the refrigerator 100 receives informationregarding an abnormal state indicating an abnormal change intemperature, then the controller 150 may transmit the informationregarding the abnormal state to at least one server at smaller timeintervals (e.g., 30 seconds) at which the temperature is sensed.

Further, the communication unit 180 may receive, from the monitoringserver 400, operation information to resolve the abnormal state.According to some implementations, the information regarding theabnormal state may indicate an abnormal state of a particular componentof the refrigerator. Further, according to some implementations, theoperation information may include information regarding a customerservice schedule or setting information (e.g., optimal settinginformation) to resolve the abnormal state. The customer serviceschedule may include a schedule for a representative to visit the user'ssite and resolve the abnormal state of the device. Further, a scheduleto resolve the abnormal state in a remote manner may also be included ina customer service schedule.

Optimal setting information may, for example, include settinginformation that a user of a refrigerator 100 should set in order toresolve the abnormal state of the device. For example, if thetemperature of the refrigerator is wrongly set (e.g., set too low or settoo high), then the optimal setting information may include guidancemessage to inform the user to adjust the temperature of the refrigeratoror information that enables activating an optimal setting.

According to some implementations, in the example configuration of FIG.3, the abnormal state may be determined for home appliances, such as arefrigerator 100, in a proactive manner so as to mitigate problems wherethe abnormality causes a failure of the home appliance. To this end,various kinds of information generated by the refrigerator 100 may betransmitted to at least one server, such as the cloud server 200, by thecommunication unit 180. Based on this information, at least one server,such as the cloud server 200 and/or an analysis server 300 thatcooperates with the cloud server 200, determines that the refrigeratoris in an abnormal state by comparing the received information withpattern information, and provides the information regarding the abnormalstate to the monitoring server 400.

Alternatively, in some implementations, the cloud server 200 maydirectly provide the information regarding the abnormal state to therefrigerator 100. As a result, a user of the refrigerator 100 or acustomer service representative for the refrigerator 100 who becomesaware of the abnormal state of the refrigerator 100 may recognize theabnormal state of the refrigerator 100 and may take measures to resolvethe current abnormal state of the refrigerator.

In some implementations, the controller 150 may display, on the displayunit 160, information regarding a customer service schedule. Further, insome implementations the controller 150 may accumulate and store theinformation sensed by the sensor as the information regarding theabnormal state and store the accumulated sensed information in thestorage unit 170 in order to accumulate and store information requiredfor the customer service.

For example, when changes in the temperature of the refrigerator isdetected as being abnormal (e.g., as a result of sensing thetemperature), the controller 150 may accumulate and store, in thestorage unit 170, information regarding sensing of the temperature, sothat the temperature change is accurately determined. This kind ofinformation may be a basis for accurately confirming the informationsensed by the representative and determining the problem of therefrigerator 100 during customer service.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a configuration of a cloud server accordingto an implementation of the present disclosure. As was discussed inregards to FIG. 2, one or more servers, such as cloud server 200,receives (e.g., continuously) sensing information from the devices suchas a refrigerator and determines an abnormal state based on accumulatedinformation. For convenience of explanation, a relation between arefrigerator and a cloud server will be mainly described.

In the example of FIG. 4, a communication unit 280 receives sensinginformation from a plurality of refrigerators. The communication unit280 receives sensing information sensed at a first time point from afirst refrigerator. A storage unit 270 stores sensing informationreceived by the communication unit 280. In addition, the storage unit270 also stores pattern information. The pattern information may reflectstandardized information for an operation of the refrigerator or mayreflect criteria that is to be compared with various kinds of sensinginformation to determine an abnormal state.

A controller 250 compares the pattern information stored in the storageunit 270 to determine the abnormal state based on the sensinginformation received by the communication unit 280 and the sensinginformation (for example, sensing information sensed by the firstrefrigerator at the first time point and the second time point) on thefirst refrigerator at various time points in order to determine theinformation regarding the abnormal state.

When the information regarding the abnormal state is determined by acontroller 250, the communication unit 280 may transmit informationregarding the abnormal state to the first refrigerator or a monitoringserver 400.

In this process, the pattern information may be updated or replacedafter being stored in a storage unit 270 at a regular interval. Forexample, in scenarios where an analysis unit 300 a is included in thecloud server 200, the analysis unit 300 a may accumulate and store theinformation regarding a normal pattern and information regarding anabnormal pattern generated based on the sensing information sensed bythe first refrigerator and the plurality of second refrigerators. Thecloud server 200 may provide such pattern information to the storageunit 270. If an analysis server 300 is provided as a separate externaldevice, the analysis server 300 may provide the accumulated informationregarding a normal pattern and the information regarding the abnormalpattern to the cloud server 200 based on a communication protocol.

The information regarding a normal pattern may include accumulatedsensing information that is gathered during the refrigerator's normaloperation. For example, the information regarding the normal pattern mayinclude sensed values of a normal state of refrigerator. The informationregarding the abnormal pattern may include accumulated sensinginformation that is gathered during the refrigerator's abnormaloperation. For example, the information regarding the abnormal patternmay include sensed values of an abnormal state of refrigerator.

Alternatively, the analysis server 300 may compare the sensedinformation provided by the cloud server 200 with the informationregarding the normal pattern and the information regarding the abnormalpattern, and directly notify the monitoring server 400 of the abnormalstate.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a configuration of a monitoring serveraccording to an implementation of the present disclosure. A monitoringserver 400 receives information regarding the abnormal state of aspecific device from a cloud server 200 or an analysis server 300 andresolves the abnormal state of the device.

A communication unit 480 receives information regarding the abnormalstate of a first refrigerator, sensing information with respect to theinformation regarding the abnormal state, and information regarding anotification message recipient with respect to a first refrigerator froma cloud server 200. Further, the communication unit 480 transmits theinformation regarding the abnormal state described above or operationinformation required for resolving the abnormal state to the firstrefrigerator. According to an implementation, the operation informationis required for follow-up measures, for example, optimal settinginformation, information regarding a customer service schedule toresolve the abnormal state determined based on the information regardingthe abnormal state provided by the cloud server 200.

In some implementations, controller 450 determines a monitoring displayunit managed by a representative of the first refrigerator to output theinformation received by the communication unit 480. The monitoringserver 400 may generate information to be transmitted to a computerscreen managed by a plurality of monitoring representatives and outputinformation on the screen. The determined monitoring display units 460 ato 460 n output the information.

When predetermined operation information (for example, informationregarding a customer service schedule or optimal setting information) isgenerated between the monitoring representative and a user of therefrigerator based on the outputted information, the communication unit480 of the monitoring server 400 may transmit the predeterminedoperation information. The operation information may be stored in astorage unit 470 to determine a processed state in a subsequent step. Animplementation will be described in detail based on each of theabove-described components.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a process of, by a cloud server, determiningan abnormal state based on information on sensing of a temperatureaccording to an implementation of the present disclosure. A settingtemperature of a refrigerating compartment or a freezer compartment (thesetting temperature or a notch temperature) may be constant or thesetting temperature may be gradually increased or decreased based onmachine-learning artificial intelligence. In some scenarios, thetemperatures sensed in the refrigerating compartment and the freezercompartment are continuously changed by actions of putting articles inthe refrigerator and taking articles out of the refrigerator, an openingof a door, an operation of a compressor, and the like. As such, a cloudserver 200 may determine the abnormal state based on the change in thetemperature sensed in the refrigerator, and whether the changedtemperature converges to the setting temperature.

In the example of FIG. 6, the cloud server 200 receives the settingtemperatures of a refrigerating compartment and/or a freezer compartmentof a first refrigerator (S21). In some scenarios, e.g., where thesetting temperature is not changed frequently, the setting temperaturemay only be transmitted when a change in the setting temperature occurs.Then, the cloud server 200 may receive (e.g., continuously) the sensingtemperatures of the refrigerating compartment and/or the freezercompartment (S22).

In some implementations, if a difference between the received sensedtemperature and the setting temperature is less than a thresholdmagnitude (S23), then the cloud server 200 stores the settingtemperature and sensing temperature of the refrigerator as informationon normal pattern (S24). In some implementations, an analysis unit 300 aor an analysis server may also store the setting temperature and thesensing temperature of the refrigerator as information regarding anormal pattern. For example, the setting temperature and the sensingtemperature of the refrigerator may be stored as information regarding anormal pattern with respect to the temperature.

In some implementations, the cloud server 200 identifies whether thedifference between the received sensing information and the settinginformation is equal to or greater than a threshold magnitude (S23). Insome scenarios, the cloud server 200 determines whether the changes intemperature occur based on other kinds of sensing information (e.g.,information regarding sensing of the door, information regarding sensinga compressor's operation, and the like) (S25).

After this determination, if there is sensed information that enables atemperature change (S26), for example, when the door is opened or thecompressor performs an additional operation, then the cloud server 200receives (e.g., continuously) the information regarding sensing of thetemperature from the refrigerator during a time period of a confirmationof a stable state (S27). As examples, the time period of a confirmationof a stable state may be a time required for the temperature to reach astable state after the door is opened, or a time required for thetemperature to be in the stable state corresponding to the operation ofthe compressor.

The time at which the stable state is reached may be predetermined ormay vary depending on a magnitude of the temperature change. In someimplementations, if the difference between the sensed temperature andthe setting temperature is within a threshold magnitude during the timeat which the stable state is determined (S28), then the cloud server 200may determine that the temperature reaches the stable state.

In some scenarios, after the time at which the stable state is reached,the temperature may not be in the stable state and the differencebetween the sensing temperature and the setting temperature may begreater than or equal to the threshold magnitude (e.g., K), for example,when the temperature is decreased or increased continuously or when thetemperature is outside of a difference between the sensing temperatureand the setting temperature. In such scenarios, the cloud server 200 maydetermine this state as the abnormal state (S29). If the abnormal stateis determined, then the information indicating the abnormal state(information regarding the abnormal state) is transmitted to arefrigerator 100 or a monitoring server 400 (S30), and the refrigerator100 or the monitoring server 400 may perform various operations toresolve the abnormal state.

In some implementations, when there is no other type of sensinginformation that may justify a temperature change in step S26, the cloudserver 200 determines whether an error regarding other types of sensinginformation has occurred. For example, an abnormal state may correspondto the opening of the door not being detected, or an operation of thecompressor not being sensed.

To this end, the cloud server 200 may determine an abnormal state basedon previous information regarding sensing of the door or the informationregarding sensing of the compressor (e.g., historical information storedin the storage unit) (S32). If the information regarding sensing of thedoor or the information regarding sensing of the compressor has not beenproperly received or sensed, then the cloud server 200 may determinethat the abnormal state has occurred (S33) and may transmit theinformation regarding the abnormal state to the refrigerator 100 or themonitoring server 400 (S34). The refrigerator 100 or the monitoringserver 400 may then perform various operations to resolve the abnormalstate.

On the other hand, if no problems are detected in the informationregarding sensing of the door or the information regarding sensing ofthe compressor, based on the past history, then the cloud server 200 maydetermine that an abnormal state has not occurred. When the differencebetween the temperatures is continuously maintained or increased and isdetermined as the abnormal state by receiving the information regardingsensing of the temperature at a time interval until the stable state isreached, then the information regarding the abnormal state may betransmitted to the refrigerator 100 or to the monitoring server 400(S35). The refrigerator 100 or the monitoring server 400 may thenperform various operations to resolve the abnormal state.

As shown in the example of FIG. 6, in the case of home appliances (e.g.,a refrigerator) connected to a network, a failure state of the homeappliance may be detected in advance, and a customer may be notified ofthe failure state of the product. For example, information regarding anoperation state of the home appliances may be sensed, and the homeappliance may transmit the sensed information to a cloud server. Thecloud server and/or an analysis server may predict a failure of theproduct in advance based on the received information, and may proceed toperform various operations to repair or provide customer service.

As such, implementations disclosed herein may mitigate occurrences ofscenarios where problems with a product are recognized only after afailure of the product has occurred. This may enable more efficient andfaster repair of products, and a user may not need to wait for a longperiod of time to repair the product.

In addition, problems may also arise when an abnormality of the productoccurs, and the user directly calls for service to solve the problem,but may not be able to accurately explain the problem. Therefore, theuser may erroneously notify the service center of a state of a defect ofthe product, causing repairs to be performed twice or more.

Such problems may be mitigated according to implementation of thepresent disclosure, in which sensing information of home appliances,such as refrigerators, are transmitted (e.g., continuously) to a cloudserver, and a determination or prediction of failures is performedproactively based on the collected information, and users are notifiedof such failures or potential failures of the home appliances. Further,implementations may enable repairs to be preemptively performed in anabnormal state of home appliances, thus helping to prevent the abnormalstate from causing failure of the home appliances, thereby enablingquick and efficient product management and increasing a lifespan of theproduct.

According to implementations of the present disclosure, sensinginformation generated during operation of a refrigerator may be various,some examples of which are described as follows. These kinds ofinformation may be generated by various sensors shown in FIG. 3, or maybe generated using a sensor other than the sensor of FIG. 3.

Examples of sensing information transmitted online through a network bythe refrigerator are described as follows.

Setting temperature and sensing temperature of a refrigeratingcompartment, setting temperature and sensing temperature of a freezercompartment, and door open information are examples of basic informationthat may be used to monitor a change in temperature and to determinewhether the refrigerator is in an abnormal state or a normal state,based on changes in temperature.

According to an implementation, information regarding an elapsed timeafter installation of the refrigerator, and installation information ofthe external environment of the refrigerator are examples of informationregarding the installation of the refrigerator. Such information mayinclude, for example, a distance between the refrigerator and asurrounding wall, and an elapsed time after the refrigerator has beeninstalled. The cloud server 200 may determine the abnormal state of therefrigerator by measuring the internal temperature of the refrigeratorduring the elapsed time after the refrigerator is installed.

In this case, one or more servers (e.g., cloud server 200) and therefrigerator 100 may transmit and receive the temperature informationsensed in the refrigerator 100 at a short period when data istransmitted for a predetermined time period based on a time point atwhich the refrigerator is initially installed. Such implementations mayenable more precise determination of whether the state of therefrigerator is in a temporal low cooling state occurring during theinitial installation of the refrigerator or an abnormal state.

Further, when the refrigerator supports a special mode, the informationon special mode setting is also included in the sensing information. Forexample, even though the information on special mode setting is analyzedby the cloud server and the abnormal state temporarily occurs, it ispossible to determine whether the state of the refrigerator is in theabnormal state or the normal state based on the continuously receivedsensing information.

With respect to temporal noise, low cooling, excessive cooling, anoccurrence of frost, and the like, the cloud server 200 may distinguisha special mode and a general mode (not including the special mode), andthe cloud server 200 may determine the abnormal state according todifferent techniques corresponding to each mode. Thus, the cloud server200 may determine the abnormal state depending on the special mode. Insome implementations, the setting information may only be transmittedwhen the setting information is newly set or changed. Alternatively, insome implementations, the setting information may be transmittedtogether with other kinds of sensing information.

In addition, information regarding operation of the compressor (Comp),information regarding an operation state of the motor, and informationregarding an operation pattern of the compressor may be included insensing information. The information regarding operation of thecompressor and the information regarding the operation state of themotor may be utilized to identify a cause of a temperature change whenthe change in temperature is determined to correspond to an abnormalbehavior.

If the compressor is not operated properly or the motor is not operatedproperly, the temperature may be continuously increased or decreased.The cloud server or the analysis server determines the abnormal state ofthe compressor and the motor at the time point when the temperature ischanged so as to generate information on the abnormal state.

The sensing information may include the normality or abnormality of thesensor and the operation pattern of the sensor (e.g., asmeta-information of the sensor). Information such as a defrost cycle, anamount of ice used, an amount of water used, pressure of the watersupplied in the refrigerator, and an amount of a filter used is alsosensed and transmitted continuously to the server. As a result, when aproblem in a water pressure occurs or a filter (a water filter, an airpurification filter, and the like) is determined to be replaced, thecloud server 200 may transmit a replacement cycle to the refrigerator asinformation on the abnormal state or the operation information.

In scenarios where ice is used in the refrigerator, informationregarding an amount of ice that is used may be transmitted to the cloudserver 200. In some implementations, if it is determined that a useruses a larger amount of ice than a predicted or prepared amount of ice,then the cloud server 200 may transmit operation information to therefrigerator to perform various operations, such as controlling adisplay unit 160 to output information related to a proper usage of ice(e.g., an amount of ice used per hour or a time taken to produce ice).

In scenarios of sensing water pressure, by measuring the pressure of thewater that is supplied to the refrigerator, implementations disclosedherein may enable notifying a user of an excessive water pressure or alow water pressure, and may perform various operations, such asrecommending an optimal usage to the user.

Alternatively, in some implementations, the cloud server 200 maydetermine, as a result of sensing of the water pressure, informationthat a user uses an excessive amount of water. Accordingly, thisinformation may be transmitted by the cloud server 200, together withoperation information, to the refrigerator such that the display unit160 outputs a recommended water usage that does not cause the low waterpressure/high water pressure. In some implementations, a time durationfor the water to reach a proper temperature may be outputted to thedisplay unit 160, which may notify the user to not use the water untilthat time.

Further, setting information on a function set by the user may betransmitted to the cloud server 200, for example periodically or at atime point when the function is changed. Further, the cloud server 200may recommend setting information (e.g., optimal setting information)obtained from the sensing information determined during operation of therefrigerator based on setting information regarding the function set bythe user. Further details of this are described with reference to FIG.8, below.

As a particular example, a time interval at which the sensinginformation (data) is transmitted may also be adjusted. Although varioustypes of sensing information may be transmitted, a part of the sensinginformation may be transmitted at a shorter time interval when anabnormal state occurs, which may enable proactive prevention or responseto potential or actual failures.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a process of recommending an optimal settingtemperature to a user based on sensed temperature information accordingto an implementation of the present disclosure.

A cloud server 200 receives temperature information and information onsensing of the temperature set to the refrigerating compartment and thefreezer compartment from a refrigerator (S41). Further, the cloud server200 receives information on sensing of the door, that is, information ona time point when the door is opened and closed (S42). Then, the cloudserver 200 calculates an optimal setting temperature suitable for therefrigerator based on the received information (S43). This will bedescribed in more detail. The cloud server 200 or an analysis server 300determines whether the operation of the refrigerator is in the abnormalstate based on a current state of opening and closing the door, asetting temperature, and the information on sensing of the temperature.

After determination, when there is the abnormality in a current settingtemperature, for example, when the door is frequently opened and closedbased on a use pattern of the user (opening and closing the door) andthe setting temperature is too low, an overload may occur. Further, inthis process, the cloud server 200 or the analysis server 300 maydetermine that it takes a long time to enter the stable state after thedoor is opened based on the information on sensing of the temperature.

That is, if the operation of the refrigerator is determined to be in theabnormal state based on information on a combination of the temperatureset by the user and the use pattern, the cloud server 200 transmits theinformation on the optimal setting temperature to the refrigerator so asto adjust the setting information (S44). According to an implementation,the information on the optimal setting temperature is operationinformation. Further, information on the abnormal state may betransmitted together during transmission of the information on theoptimal setting temperature.

As a result, when a display unit 160 of a refrigerator 100 outputs thereceived information on the abnormal state (a message indicating thatthe temperature setting is inadequate) and operation information (amessage indicating the optimal setting temperature), and the userrecognizes the received information on the abnormal state and theoperation information, an optimal temperature of the refrigeratingcompartment or the freezer compartment may be reset automatically ormanually by the user (S45). The setting temperature information reset inthis process is transmitted to the cloud server 200 back and may be abasis for determining the subsequent operation state of therefrigerator.

The cloud server 200 may determine the optimal setting temperature byanalyzing the setting temperature set by the user and the change patternof the temperature in the refrigerator. Further, the cloud server 200may recommend optimal temperature setting by analyzing previous settingtemperature and conditions of the installation environment for therefrigerator (the external temperature and external humidity values).

FIG. 8 is an example of changing a setting temperature depending on achange in sensing temperature according to an implementation of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 8 shows that the sensing temperature repeatedly increases anddecreases in a first time section when the setting temperature is set toT1. A cloud server 200 may determine that a magnitude of the increaseand decrease of the sensing temperature exceeds a threshold level, sothat the refrigerator is determined to be in an abnormal state in whichthe temperature setting causes an unstable operation of therefrigerator.

Then, as shown in the example of FIG. 8, the cloud server 200 maytransmit a message to reset the setting temperature to T2, where thesetting temperature may be reset to T2 directly by the user orautomatically by the refrigerator. As a result, in the second timesection, the magnitude of the increase and decrease of the temperaturesensed by the refrigerator may be decreased so as to maintain a stableoperation state.

In the example of FIG. 8, the setting temperature is increased whenthere is a greater gap between a maximum value and a minimum value inthe change pattern of the temperature sensed by the temperature sensorin the refrigerator. In some implementations, the setting temperaturemay be changed by comparing an external temperature with an externalhumidity. For example, an accuracy of determining an abnormal state maybe improved by analyzing a temperature in the refrigerator based oninstallation information regarding components that are provided outsideof storage spaces of the refrigerator.

A cloud server 200 analyzes a change pattern of temperature and humidityoutside of the refrigerator sensed by a temperature and humidity sensorprovided outside to analyze a poor environment that has a bad influenceon an operation of the refrigerator, and may thus recommend anappropriate installing environment and usage of the refrigerator.Further, in scenarios where the refrigerator is installed in an inclinedposition to the installation surface, the cloud server 200 may determinethat the refrigerator is in an abnormal state based on the sensedinformation regarding changes in temperature, humidity, or operationstates of a compressor, which may be generated depending on when therefrigerator is installed.

FIG. 9 shows an example of resetting a setting temperature by reflectingan outdoor air temperature, according to an implementation of thepresent disclosure. In this example, in a first time section, theoutdoor air temperature is in a relatively stable state, and atemperature sensed in a refrigerator is also stable. In a second timesection, the outdoor air temperature and the temperature sensed in therefrigerator are increased (e.g., continuously) as indicated by arrow47, and the outdoor air temperature and the temperature sensed in therefrigerator are transmitted (e.g., continuously) to a cloud server 200.

The cloud server 200 determines an abnormal state in which freshness inthe refrigerator may not be maintained due to an increase in externaltemperature, based on received information regarding outdoor airtemperature and information sensed in the refrigerator. As shown in theexample of FIG. 9, the cloud server 200 may transmit informationregarding a resetting temperature for the refrigerator so as to lowerthe setting temperature to T3. According to some implementations, thetransmitted information is the operation information of therefrigerator.

When the setting temperature is adjusted to T3 by the refrigerator 100,a temperature in the refrigerator gradually decreases in a third timesection, as indicated by arrow 46 in FIG. 9.

In some implementations, the techniques related to temperature changediscussed in relation to FIGS. 8 and 9, above, may be applied to amonitoring server 400. As a result, when a user inquires to a customercenter regarding an abnormal operation of the refrigerator, themonitoring server 400 may determine the abnormal state based oninformation regarding monitoring of the previous change, or may transmitthe operation information to the refrigerator 100 to resolve theabnormal state.

In addition, some implementations disclosed herein may enablerecommending a proper usage to a user based on information regardingopening and closing of the door. For example, door opening and closingtime information may be sensed by a door sensor, and may be transmittedto the cloud server 200. The cloud server 200 determine and transmitinformation regarding an abnormal state to the refrigerator 100, forexample when the door is opened for a long period of time, therebywarning the user that the door is opened. For example, an audible alertmay be output by a speaker provided in the refrigerator, or a visualalert may be displayed on a display unit 160, or a notification messagemay be transmitted to a smart phone (e.g., a registered smart phone) ofa user.

Further, when the door is determined to be frequently opened and closedbased on the door opening and closing time information sensed by thedoor sensor, a message indicating an effective usage may be output tothe display unit 160.

Further, the cloud server 200 may warn of reduced/excessive coolingbased on an opening state of the door and the change pattern of thetemperature in the refrigerator together with the temperature sensor andmay recommend a method of coping with the reduced/excessive cooling tothe user. For example, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the cloud server 200may analyze the sensed temperature change at time points when the dooris opened and closed. Further, if the door is not opened frequently, amethod of saving power of the refrigerator may be provided to therefrigerator.

For example, as shown in FIG. 9, after a door of the refrigerator isopened and closed at an end of the first time section, if thetemperature rises in the second time section, then the cloud server 200may determine an abnormal state in which the door is not properlyclosed.

For example, if the sensing temperature increases or decreases (e.g.,continuously) for a predetermined time range, then a controller 250 ofthe cloud server 200 may generate information regarding the abnormalstate with respect to the door opening, based on the informationregarding sensing of the door, and may transmit the generatedinformation regarding the abnormal state to the refrigerator.

FIG. 10 shows an example of a cloud server 200 determining an abnormalstate based on door opening information and sensed temperatureinformation according to an implementation of the present disclosure.

A communication unit may receive information regarding sensing oftemperature, e.g., a temperature of the refrigerating compartment and/orthe freezer compartment, and information regarding sensing of a door,e.g., opening and closing of the door, and whether the door is openedand then closed at an end of the first time section. In someimplementations, even after the door is closed (in the second timesection), the cloud server 200 may determine whether the temperature inthe refrigerator is not lower than the setting temperature T1, asindicated by 50 in FIG. 10.

In some scenarios, there may have been a slight opening of the door,such that the door sensor does not detect the opening. In suchscenarios, the cloud server 200 may determine that an abnormal state hasoccurred when the second section continues for a threshold period oftime or longer. Accordingly, a controller 150 may compare the magnitudeof changes in temperature, information regarding a time taken to reducea magnitude of changes, and information regarding sensing of a door togenerate information regarding an abnormal state. In someimplementations, the controller 150 may notify the user of theinformation regarding the abnormal state, for example through a displayunit 160 of a refrigerator 100, or a speaker, and the like.

FIG. 11 shows an example of a process in which a cloud server 200determines an abnormal state based on information sensed during anoperation of a compressor according to an implementation of the presentdisclosure.

In this example, the cloud server 200 receives information regarding anoperation time and an operation pattern of a compressor sensed by asensor (e.g., a sensor of the compressor) (S51). Further, informationregarding sensing of temperature in the refrigerator and informationregarding sensing of a door may also be received by the cloud server 200during the transmission period (S52).

The cloud server 200 may determine occurrence of temporary reducedcooling, excessive cooling, or failure due to excessive use of therefrigerator, based on an operation time (e.g., an on-off time, a timeinterval, a number of times, and the like), and also based on anoperating pattern of the compressor (S53). For example, excessive usemay be determined based on a number of openings or closings of the doorexceeding a threshold number, or a time period of a door openingexceeding a threshold time period.

Further, in scenarios where a temperature in the refrigerator rapidlyrises after a door is opened, and an item having a high temperature isplaced into the refrigerator, the compressor may temporarily perform lowcooling and excessive cooling to lower the temperature in therefrigerator. Accounting for such scenarios, the cloud server 200 mayanalyze an operation pattern based on the information regarding openingand closing of the door, rising and falling speeds of the temperature,and the like. The cloud server 200 may determine whether thiscorresponds to a misuse (e.g., an excessive use) of the refrigerator, orwhether the refrigerator itself is in an abnormal state. If the cloudserver 200 determines that the refrigerator is in an abnormal state inwhich the defect of the compressor occurs, then the cloud server 200 maytransmit a notification message for repair to the monitoring server(S54).

In some implementations, a monitoring server 400 receives the operationinformation of the compressor, the information regarding an operationpattern, the door opening and closing information, the temperatureinformation, and the like, from the cloud server 200 in a form of anotification message for repair. The monitoring server 400 may outputthe received information to a specific monitoring display unit 460 a. Insome scenarios, this may enable a customer service representative tocontact a user of the refrigerator. The monitoring server 400 may alsogenerate operation (maintenance) information, such as a customer serviceschedule, for repair or optimal setting information that the user mayperform. The generated operation information and/or the optimal settinginformation is transmitted to a refrigerator 100 (S55).

As shown in the example of FIG. 11, to determine a malfunction or adefect of the compressor, the cloud server 200 may compare informationregarding sensing of the temperature of the refrigerator, patterninformation (e.g., a temperature pattern in a normal state or anabnormal state) that is received from the refrigerator, or additionalinformation regarding sensing of the door, and may generate informationregarding the abnormal state of the compressor.

In this case, according to some implementation, the pattern informationmay define a range of temperature change for a certain time period whilethe compressor is operated (e.g., for a time period during which thecompressor repeats turning on or off). The pattern information maydefine a range of temperature change corresponding to a normal state.The pattern information may also define a range of temperature changecorresponding to an abnormal state.

In some implementations, the cloud server 200 may determine whether theoperation pattern of the compressor is misused or is defected, based onthe information regarding the operation of the compressor that is sensedby the compressor sensor and based on the information regarding thetemperature sensed by the temperature sensor. The cloud server 200 mayanalyze a pattern of an increase or decrease in the temperature sensedby the temperature sensor to determine an abnormal state.

In some implementations, the cloud server 200 may omit step S52 in theexample of FIG. 11, and may determine an abnormal state of thecompressor only based on the information sensed by the compressor.

For example, in some implementations, a controller 250 of the cloudserver 200 may generate information regarding an abnormal state of thecompressor of the refrigerator based on information, sensed by acompressor sensor of the refrigerator, regarding a sensed operationpattern of the compressor or a continuous operation time of thecompressor, and an operation period of the compressor.

The cloud server 200 may determine an operation pattern of thecompressor based on the information sensed by the compressor sensor. Inthis process, the cloud server 200 may determine the continuousoperation time of the compressor or the operation period of thecompressor. When the information regarding the temperature sensed by thetemperature sensor is compared with the information regarding theoperation pattern of the compressor sensed by the compressor sensor, ifan abnormality is determined in the temperature change, or if thetemperature is not changed appropriately as the compressor is operated,then the cloud server 200 may enhance accuracy of detecting an abnormalstate by using sensing values of the other sensors, when an abnormalstate is determined.

FIG. 12 shows an example of information regarding a compressor receivedfrom a refrigerator according to an implementation of the presentdisclosure. Reference numeral 56 denotes a time point at which acompressor is turned on and off. Reference numeral 57 denotes a powerlevel of the compressor. In some implementations, a cloud server 200receives, from a refrigerator, information regarding a time when thecompressor is turned on and off, and also receives power information ofthe compressor. The cloud server 200 may then determine an abnormalstate of the refrigerator based on a time period at which the compressoris turned on and off and/or based on a magnitude of the power level ofthe compressor. For example, if the compressor is turned on for morethan a predetermined duration of time (for example, 30 minutes), thenthe cloud server 200 may determine that an abnormality occurs in thecompressor.

In some implementations, if the compressor is in an off state for atleast a predetermined duration of time (for example, 30 minutes), thenthe cloud server 200 may determine that the compressor is in an abnormalstate.

In some implementations, a state of the compressor may be determinedbased on an on-off time point of the compressor, and based on themagnitude of the power level of the compressor. If the state of thecompressor is determined as an abnormal state, then the cloud server 200may transmit information regarding the abnormal state to notify themonitoring server 400 of the abnormal state. In some implementations,information regarding a customer service schedule or operationinformation may be generated by the monitoring server 400.

In some implementations, the cloud server 200 may enhance accuracy ofdetermining an abnormal state by utilizing a door opening and closingstate, or a state of temperature in the refrigerator.

The cloud server 200 may accumulate and store information regarding anormal operation pattern, which may be a combination of various types ofsensing information detected when the refrigerator is normally operated,or at a time (or directly before a time) that a defect or a failureoccurs. Alternatively, in some implementations, various types ofinformation may be stored in an analysis server 300, and the analysisserver 300 or an analysis unit 300 a of the cloud server 200 maydetermine that the compressor is in an abnormal state based on sensedinformation.

In some implementations, an exceptional operation pattern is definedbased on the product determined to be in an abnormal state. However, ifthe product is not determined to be in an abnormal state but rather isin a normal state, then a combination of various types of sensinginformation may also be stored as information regarding a normaloperation pattern. In some implementations, the exceptional pattern maybe applicable to multiple appliances (e.g., an entire product group) oronly to the product which has been determined as being in the abnormalstate.

In some implementations, the cloud server 200 and/or the analysis server300 may store the information regarding a normal operation pattern andinformation regarding an abnormal pattern, based on the informationregarding sensing of temperature and the information regarding sensingof a door. For example, the stored pattern information may include atemperature change range in the normal state after the door is opened orclosed, or a time that is taken to reach the setting temperature.

When the cloud server 200 and/or the analysis server 300 comparesvarious kinds of pattern information, and the change in a time or thechange in the temperature occurs which exceeding the change rangedefined in the pattern information, then the controller 250 of the cloudserver 200 may generate the information regarding an abnormal state.

In some implementations, the cloud server 200 determines an abnormalstate of the refrigerator based on various kinds of generated sensinginformation. For example, when a motor of the refrigerator is notoperated or is excessively operated, or when a rotation speed exceeds arange of speed defined in a normal operation pattern based on theinformation regarding the sensed operation state or a rotation speed ofthe motor, the controller 250 of the cloud server 250 may generate theinformation regarding an abnormal state.

Further, in some implementations, the cloud server 200 may determineabnormality or normality of the sensor itself based on the sensedinformation. As examples, a temperature sensor, a sensor of thecompressor, a door sensor, and the like, may generate a value thatchanges after a predetermined time. If the value is not changed at allfor the predetermined period, or if the pattern of the sensed value isoutside of a range of normal pattern, then the cloud server 200 maydetermine that the sensor itself is in an abnormal state. Theabnormality in the sensor itself may cause operations of therefrigerator to be unable to be controlled, and thus a difference of thesensed values may be analyzed by the cloud server 200 to determine suchan abnormal state.

As a particular example, a temperature sensor may accurately determinean entire operation of the refrigerator, thereby enhancing accuracy ofthe cloud server 200 determining an abnormal state. For example, thecloud server 200 may determine a state of reduced cooling or excessivecooling by analyzing a pattern of temperature change in therefrigerator. If the state of reduced/excessive cooling continues for apredetermined period of time or more, then the cloud server 200 maydetermine that the state of reduced cooling or excessive cooling is anabnormal state.

Further, in some implementations, the cloud server 200 may predict adegree at which frost is generated, for example, a state in which thefrost is excessively generated, by analyzing the temperature in therefrigerator and a temperature pattern of a cooler (EVA). Further, ifthe temperature change is irregular or is outside of a range of thenormal pattern, then a defect of the fan motor may also be determined.

Further, in some implementations, information regarding a defrost cyclethat is performed in the refrigerator, and related time information, arealso transmitted (e.g., continuously) to the cloud server 200. The cloudserver 200 may determine a misuse of the refrigerator by a user based onthe transmitted information, and the cloud server 200 or the monitoringserver 400 may transmit, to the refrigerator, operation informationwhich indicates a correct usage, thereby enabling a user to moreeffectively use the refrigerator.

During analysis of the information regarding the defrost cycle andrelated time information of the refrigerator, after determining a statein which frost is excessively generated, the cloud server 200 and/or themonitoring server 400 may transmit, to the refrigerator, the operationinformation which may include information for a user to select afunction for removing the frost.

In some implementations, the cloud server 200 may analyze a transmissionperiod of data transmitted by the refrigerator and may detect a state ofpower failure in a physical region where the refrigerator is disposed,and may notify a user of the sensed state of power failure.

As such, in some scenarios, implementations of the present disclosuremay reduce difficulties that a user typically faces when dealing withproblems in a home appliance, such as difficulties in contacting andappropriately informing a service center to request repair of the homeappliance. In some scenarios, such implementations may enable a moreefficient, effective, and accurate customer service center that is ableto proactively establish a service plan, before the user requests repairof a product. Further, in some scenarios, such improved accuracy maymitigate problems in which a repair schedule is erroneously establishedbased on erroneous or incorrect information which may be provided by auser, thereby reducing occurrences of multiple repair schedules beingarranged for the same failure.

FIG. 13 shows an example of operating different devices in a systemaccording to an implementation of the present disclosure. In thisexample, to determine an abnormal state, a refrigerator transmitsoperation information (e.g., sensing information) to a cloud server 200,and the cloud server 200 determines an abnormal state of the product,and notifies a user of information regarding the abnormal state, whichmay include a failure state. The cloud server and/or a monitoring servermay then transmit, to the refrigerator, the operation information sothat the user may perform operations to resolve a misuse or a failure ofthe refrigerator.

As shown in the example of FIG. 13, refrigerator 100 transmits sensinginformation generated by one or more sensors to the cloud server 200during an operation of a refrigerator 100 (S61). As described in variousimplementations, above, the cloud server 200 then determines an abnormalstate of the refrigerator 100 based on the sensing information, andgenerates information regarding the abnormal state (S62).

According to an implementation, the information regarding the abnormalstate includes various types of sensing information regarding anabnormal pattern. For example, the information regarding the abnormalstate may include sensing information that is collected at various times(e.g., before, at, or after) relative to when the abnormal state of therefrigerator occurs. The information regarding the abnormal state mayindicate that an abnormality is detected, based on the informationsensed by one or more sensors (e.g., a temperature sensor, a doorsensor, etc.).

According to some implementations, the information regarding theabnormal state is a collection of a message that indicates the abnormalstate, such as “TEMP_ERROR”, “DOOR_ERROR”, “COMP_ERROR,” as well as thesensing information.

The cloud server 200 may transmit the information regarding the abnormalstate to a monitoring server 400 (S63). In some implementations, themonitoring server 400 may output information related to the abnormalstate to one or more monitoring display units (e.g., monitoring displayunits 460 a to 460 n in FIG. 5), which may be managed or used by amonitoring agent (e.g., a customer service representative) of therefrigerator in which the abnormal state has occurred (S66). In someimplementations, the monitoring server 400 may output the sensinginformation that is included in the information regarding the abnormalstate to one or more monitoring display units (e.g., the monitoringdisplay units 460 a to 460 n in FIG. 5), and may also output theinformation regarding a normal pattern that may be compared with thesensing information.

Thereafter, the customer service representative may identify theinformation regarding the abnormal state, input to the monitoring server400 at least one of information regarding a visit repair or informationthat enables the user to directly change the setting to the monitoringserver 400 (S67), and manage the history. In some scenarios, if a visitrepair is required, then the customer service representative may confirma schedule of the user and a repair representative, and may store, inthe monitoring server 400, the visit repair schedule as the operationinformation including the customer service schedule information (S68).In this process, if it is determined that the abnormal state is resolvedby replacing consumables in the refrigerator, then a process ofproviding the consumables may be performed to replace the consumables.

In some implementations, if a problem related to an abnormal state canbe solved through a manipulation by the user, then the customer servicerepresentative may store, in the monitoring server 400, optimum settinginformation to resolve the abnormal state as operation information(S69).

Then, in the example of FIG. 13, the monitoring server 400 transmits theinformation regarding the abnormal state and the operation informationto the refrigerator 100 (S70). After a predetermined step to address theproblem related to the abnormal state (e.g., a repair or an optimalsetting change) is performed, the refrigerator 100 transmits the sensinginformation that is generated by the sensors, as exemplified in S61(S71). In this process, a sensing period and a transmission period ofthe sensing information with respect to the abnormal state may be lessthan the transmission period of S61. As such, even if the problemassociated with the abnormal state has been resolved, the cloud server200 may confirm that the abnormal state is completely resolved byreceiving the sensing information at a shorter period for thepredetermined time period (e.g., one day or one week).

After confirming the sensing information for a predetermined time, thecloud server 200 may determine that the previous abnormal state has beenresolved (S72). Alternatively, in some implementations, the cloud server200 may instruct the refrigerator 100 to change a sensing period and atransmission period of the data to an original period.

As shown in the example of FIG. 13, the cloud server 200 accumulates andstores information regarding a time point at which the refrigerator isinstalled, as well as usage information regarding usage of therefrigerator. In some scenarios, this may facilitate determining areplacement cycle of consumables in the refrigerator. If it isdetermined that consumables should be replaced, then the monitoringserver 400 may send a notification message to a user, or may transmitthe notification message in advance to the user for replacement of theconsumables.

As a particular example, in scenarios where the monitoring server 400 isprovided in a service center, it may be difficult to determine a causeof a malfunction of a product before customer service representativesdirectly determine the state of the product. According toimplementations in the present disclosure, the cloud server 200determines an abnormal state and transmits the information regarding theabnormal state, which may include sensing information, to the monitoringserver 400. As such, customer service representatives in the servicecenter may be enabled to more accurately determine the state of therefrigerator, and to provide more effective service to enhance userconvenience.

The example of FIG. 13 is summarized as follows. A communication unit480 of the monitoring server receives information regarding the abnormalstate of the first refrigerator and sensing information with respect tothe information regarding the abnormal state from the cloud server(S63). A controller 450 of the monitoring server allows one or moremonitoring display units to output the received information (e.g.,monitoring display units 460 a to 460 n in FIG. 5) managed by therepresentative of the first refrigerator and provides the informationreceived by the communication unit 480 and the user informationregarding the first refrigerator to the determined monitoring displayunit (S66). The user information includes at least one of informationregarding a notification message recipient, subscriber information,application ID, product information (e.g., serial, a model name, and thelike).

After the monitoring display units (e.g., monitoring display units 460 ato 460 n in FIG. 5) output the received information, the monitoringrepresentative transmits the abnormal state to the user by phone or bySMS via a contact number the user information includes. Further, if theschedule of the customer service is determined in order to resolve theabnormal state occurring in the process by call or SMS, and the likebetween the monitoring representative and the user, the schedule of thecustomer service is stored as operation information or transmitted tothe refrigerator 100. That is, the communication unit 480 or themonitoring display units 460 a to 460 n may transmit the operationinformation required for resolving the abnormal state (the informationon customer service schedule or the optimal setting information requiredfor resolving the abnormal state) and the information regarding theabnormal state to the refrigerator 100 (S70).

In particular, the content with which the user and the monitoringrepresentative communicate by call or SMS, and the like is stored in thestorage unit 470, which is a data to determine that the monitoring isproperly performed. That is, the monitoring display units (e.g.,monitoring display units 460 a to 460 n in FIG. 5) may receive theinformation regarding the abnormal state or the operation informationprovided by the monitoring person by call or SMS via telephone numberthe user information includes and store the received informationregarding the abnormal state or the operation information to the storageunit 470. The stored information may be retrieved to determine themonitoring state or to determine that the customer service is provided.

FIG. 14 shows an example of transmitting, by a plurality ofrefrigerators, sensed information to a cloud server according to animplementation of the present disclosure.

The plurality of refrigerators 100 a, . . . , 100 n transmit informationsensed by the various sensors shown in FIG. 3 to a cloud server 200 (S81to S82). The cloud server 200 stores the received information togetherwith identification information of each of these refrigerators 100 a, .. . , 100 n and determines whether an abnormal state has occurred ineach of these refrigerators 100 a to 100 n. In this process, the cloudserver 200 accumulates and stores sensing information not about anabnormal state but rather about a normal state, to store a normalpattern.

The cloud server 200 may accumulate information sensed by one sensor ina time series and generate the normal pattern. Alternatively, the cloudserver 200 may accumulate information sensed by two or more sensors in atime series and generate the normal pattern. After generating andstoring the normal pattern for each particular type refrigerator for apredetermined time period, the normal pattern may be compared with thesensed information by the refrigerator in which the abnormal stateoccurs. As a result, when the abnormal state occurs in any one ofrefrigerators (for example, reference numeral 100 n), the cloud server200 may notify a monitoring server 400 of the occurrence of the abnormalstate (S83) and the monitoring server 400, the refrigerator 100 n or theuser of the refrigerator may perform S67 to S70 as shown in FIG. 12.

As described above, the cloud server 200 may include an analysis unit300 a. Or, an analysis server 300 may operate independently with a cloudserver 200. The cloud server 200 or the analysis server 300 mayaccumulate and store the information regarding the normal pattern andthe abnormal pattern and determine whether the particular refrigeratoris in the abnormal state or the normal state.

Although components included in the implementation of the presentdisclosure are described as being combined to one, or as being operatedto operate, the present disclosure is not necessarily limited to such animplementation, and these components may operate by being selectivelycombined to one or more within the purpose range of the presentdisclosure. Further, although all of the components may be implementedas an independent hardware, a part or all of each of the components maybe selectively combined to be implemented as a computer program that hasa program module that performs some or all of the function combined inone or a large amount of hardware. The codes and the code segments thatform the computer program will be easily deduced by those skilled in theart of the present disclosure. Such a computer program may be stored ina computer readable media that a computer can read, and can be read andimplemented by the computer to implement the implementation of thepresent disclosure. As the storage medium of the computer program, itmay include a storage media including a semiconductor recording element,an optical recording media, and a magnetic recording media. Further, acomputer program that implements the implementation of the presentdisclosure may include a program module that is transmitted in real timevia an external apparatus.

What is claimed is:
 1. A refrigerator comprising: a plurality of sensorsthat comprises: (i) a temperature sensor configured to sense atemperature of at least one of a refrigerating compartment or a freezercompartment of the refrigerator; (ii) a door sensor configured to senseat least one of an opening or a closing of a door of the refrigerator;(iii) a compressor sensor configured to sense an operation pattern of acompressor of the refrigerator; (iv) an ice sensor configured to senseat least one of an amount of ice or a state of the ice in therefrigerator; (v) a water sensor configured to sense at least one of anamount of water or a pressure of the water for the refrigerator; and(vi) a defrost sensor configured to sense frost that is generated in therefrigerator; a display unit; at least one processor; and at least onecomputer memory operably connectable to the at least one processor andstoring instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor,perform operations comprising: sensing, through at least one of theplurality of sensors, sensing information that is related to therefrigerator; storing, in the at least one computer memory, (i) thesensing information, and (ii) time information for the sensinginformation; transmitting, to at least one server, (i) the sensinginformation and the time information that is stored in the at least onecomputer memory, and (ii) setting information for the at least one ofthe refrigerating compartment or the freezer compartment; receivinginformation regarding an abnormal state of the refrigerator that isgenerated by at least one of a cloud server or a monitoring server basedon the sensing information sensed by the at least one of the pluralityof sensors; and controlling the display unit to output displayinformation that is related to the received information regarding theabnormal state of the refrigerator, wherein the cloud server isconfigured to (i) accumulate and store first pattern informationregarding a normal pattern and second pattern information regarding anabnormal pattern that are generated based on aggregate sensinginformation that is sensed by a plurality of refrigerators and (ii)generate the information regarding the abnormal state, and wherein thenormal pattern is generated using accumulated information sensed by twoor more sensors of the plurality of refrigerators in a time series, andwherein the at least one processor is configured to adjust a sensingperiod of the at least one of the plurality of sensors after theinformation regarding the abnormal state of the refrigerator isreceived.
 2. The refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the informationregarding the abnormal state is generated by the cloud server based onan association between first sensing information and second sensinginformation, among a plurality of sensing information that is sensed bythe plurality of sensors, and wherein the association between the firstsensing information and the second sensing information relates to (i)the second sensing information not matching pattern information storedin the cloud server, and (ii) the cloud server determining that thesecond sensing information not matching the pattern informationcorresponds to the abnormal state, based on the first sensinginformation.
 3. The refrigerator of claim 2, wherein the abnormal statecomprises at least one of (i) a malfunction state of a first sensor thatgenerates the first sensing information, or (ii) a malfunction state ofa second sensor that generates the second sensing information.
 4. Therefrigerator of claim 2, wherein at least one sensor, among theplurality of sensors, which generates the second sensing informationcomprises at least one of the temperature sensor or the sensor of thecompressor.
 5. The refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the operationsfurther comprise: receiving, from the monitoring server, operationinformation for resolving the abnormal state, wherein the operationinformation comprises information regarding at least one of (i) acustomer service schedule, or (ii) setting information for resolving theabnormal state.
 6. The refrigerator of claim 5, wherein the operationsfurther comprise: controlling the display unit to display informationrelated to the customer service schedule; and accumulating and storingthe sensing information that is sensed by the at least one of theplurality of sensors, with respect to the information regarding theabnormal state.
 7. The refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the operationsfurther comprise: adaptively managing a transmission period or thesensing period for sensing information, depending on the at least one ofthe plurality of sensors, wherein a first value of the transmissionperiod or the sensing period after the abnormal state has been resolvedis less than a second value of the transmission period or the sensingperiod before the abnormal state has been resolved.
 8. The refrigeratorof claim 1, wherein the cloud server is configured to determineinformation regarding a first abnormal state of a compressor of therefrigerator, based on compressor sensing information that is sensed bythe compressor sensor, wherein the compressor sensor is configured tosense (i) an operation pattern of the compressor of the refrigerator,(ii) a continuous operation time of the compressor of the refrigerator,and (iii) an operation cycle of the compressor of the refrigerator, andthe cloud server is configured to generate the information regarding theabnormal state of the refrigerator.
 9. The refrigerator of claim 1,wherein the cloud server is configured to compare (i) temperatureinformation related to temperatures that are sensed by and received fromthe refrigerator and (ii) pattern information related to an operationpattern of a compressor of the refrigerator that is generated based oncompressor sensing information that is sensed by a compressor sensor,wherein the cloud server is configured to determine a first abnormalstate of the compressor of the refrigerator based on comparing thetemperature information and the pattern information, and wherein thecloud sever is configured to generate the information regarding theabnormal state, based on the first abnormal state of the compressor. 10.The refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the cloud server is configured toreceive (i) temperature information related to sensing a temperature ofat least one of a refrigerating compartment or a freezer compartment ofthe refrigerator and (ii) door information related to sensing at leastone of an opening or a closing of a door of the refrigerator, andwherein the cloud server is configured to generate the informationregarding the abnormal state based on (i) a magnitude of a temperaturechange according to the temperature information, (ii) a time durationneeded to reduce the magnitude of the temperature change, and (iii) thedoor information related to sensing at least one of the opening or theclosing of the door.
 11. The refrigerator of claim 10, wherein the cloudserver is configured to generate the information regarding the abnormalstate based on (i) comparing at least one of the temperature informationor the door information with the stored pattern information and (ii) achange in the temperature information exceeding a threshold range of thepattern information, and wherein the change in the temperatureinformation relates to a change in time or a change in temperature ofthe temperature information.
 12. The refrigerator of claim 10, whereinthe cloud server is configured to generate the information regarding theabnormal state with respect to an opening of a door of the refrigerator,based on (i) the door information and (ii) the temperature informationindicating that the sensed temperature is continuously increased ordecreased for a predetermined time range.